This time last night, the parents of Brittany Thompson, age 17, had to have been in one of the worst circumstances that life can bring to parents: Their 17 year-old daughter had disappeared on Monday, last seen leaving the Medfield Public Library with an unknown man wearing a rather frightening…
This blog isn’t entirely about criminal defendants’ legal rights. It’s about promoting awareness of safety in an unsafe world. This became all too clear just a couple of days ago, when a 14 year-old girl in Lynn was almost the victim of a Massachusetts kidnapping, after an attempted abduction by…
In my previous post on this shocking story, I discussed the horrific details of how the stench of rotting flesh led a Worcester, Massachusetts landlord to discover the apparently murdered body of one of his tenants, 23 year-old Darlene Haynes. His discovery afterward that the once-pregnant victim’s abdomen had been…
In my previous post on this story, I said I’d explain more what the insanity defense is and isn’t. Aside from the possibility that this defendant may have committed two murders over 23 years ago and had been walking around scott-free until this parental kidnapping charge, this whole story doesn’t…
I thought awhile about posting something on the Clark Rockefeller trial here in Boston. (I posted previously about this case, and recently considered that perhaps I should omit further attention to it.) Part of me says that this is an overblown, media-driven case that is no different from dozens of…
A little too much time has passed since my last post, so let’s resume where I previously left off. First, let’s look at the legal facts of this case. Of the 12 charges filed against Simpson, the most serious in terms of penalties are the charges for armed robbery and…
Apologies to my readers for my having not posted something for so long. I’ve been very busy lately with some demanding legal issues. Let’s turn the focus back to what’s current in the news of criminal law. O.J. Simpson finds himself again behind bars. This time, football star and celebrity-in-exile…
In my last post, I talked about the Clark Rockefeller case, closing with the question of what, if any crimes Rockefeller might be charged with in this case. Given the incredible, yanked-from-Hollywood story that seems to be this man’s life for the past thirty years, complete with multiple identities and…
The tangled story of the Boston man who claims to be known as “Clark Rockefeller”, continues to fascinate. This is quite a story. For those of you who may not know, Rockefeller first splashed onto the front pages (at least in Boston) when he allegedly kidnapped his young daughter, Reigh,…